I did not know there was such a thing and after seeing the post bumped decided to look it up and yes there is a nursery doing standards.

I can only assume they will be able to take the cold though not heavy frost so a greenhouse would possibly be the best winter cover for it although heating a greenhouse is a very expensive business. The only special treatment I imagine would be water and feed the plant dead heading as needed.

This is all guess work from my experience with Geraniums and Pelargonium of which I have many, just never thought of making a standard.

A friend who was a gardener at a stately home used to grow a few of these - they would be over-wintered in the orangery.

If a heated greenhouse isn't available I would take it into the house, either in a frostfree conservatory or failing that on a windowsill - I would keep the soil on the dry side and just keep it ticking over.

A few miles from me a row of small cottages were covered by pelargoniums. So to a height of 8' or more and a delightful splash of colour. This was many years ago ....before "global warming".......but I cannot say for how many years they persisted.

I experimented with growing pelargoniums as climbers ....the ivy leaf but any vigorous plant would do well as an annual climber in the summer. Think I got 5' or so. If protected over winter, down here anyway, and grown against a south facing wall it would be quite a sight. Might dig out a suitable variety and try again

Hi Verdun - above-mentioned stately home also had 'climbing pelargoniums' in a frostfree glass 'porch' over one of the doors out to the garden, The gardener/friend said they were old varieties that had been grown there for generations - she'd not found them available to buy anywhere.

Let the stem grow, pinch off any seed head and dead flowers trim into shape with scissors in other words be gentle just adjust the head shape . Quite often if you have a South facing brick wall out of the wind that will be enough to keep it with probably a bubble wrap when frost is on the way, I put pot plants next to the wall to over winter and it works.

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